Tiger's Blood Book Review

We review the magical adventures in Tigers Blood, the novel by Laurence Yep!

Title: Tiger's BloodAuthor: Laurence YepAges: 9+Rating:

In this sequel to The Tiger's Apprentice, we're back to hanging out with Tom Lee and his magical friends, Mistral the dragon, Mr. Hu the tiger, Monkey, and Sidney the flying rat. In the first book, Tom and friends managed to keep the evil Vatten and his minions from getting the Phoenix Egg and turning Earth into a charcoal briquette. Now they have the egg and, to keep it safe, they're off to the dragon kingdom at the bottom of the ocean. Grab your swim fins, it's time to get wet!

Splashing Around with the Dragon Kingdom

Tiger's Blood starts with Tom and his friends diving into the politics and weirdness of the magical underwater dragon kingdom. Unfortunately, once they get there it gets really slow. It's interesting to hear about the underwater kingdom, but nothing exciting happens until you get halfway through the book.

Angry Dragons!

The most interesting part of Tiger's Blood is how Tom was saved by an infusion of magical tiger blood. Now he's getting a little weird and the tiger spirit, Mr. Hu, is really weak. Tom's friends are also a bit of a problem 'cuz in the dragon kingdom, Mistral and Monkey are wanted criminals!

The Bottom Line

If you're in the mood for a fantasy story in a magic kingdom, and don't mind waiting for the exciting stuff to start happening, Tiger's Blood is a decent story. It has fun characters and, when stuff starts getting crazy, with ancient chinese monsters, spells and spies, it really goes nuts!

((Author's note: Inspired by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Edits and suggestions are accepted in the comments. If you would like to add on to this and continue writing it yourself, I will create a master post of the finished product and may include suggestions and other people's work, whom I will credit. Thank you.))
After the battle to banish the Empire succeeded,
The pony of shadows now for a thousand years gone,
The feasts of celebration were well underway,
And the Princesses rejoiced that the battle was won.
Star Swirl the Bearded, great wizard of old,
Had remained there as long as he may,
But as soon as he rose, the hall to leave
There came an event that forced him to stay.
A figure stepped in from the midst of a storm:
The doors were flung open with tremendous might
By a stallion of stature like never before seen
His presence alone dimmed the room’s light.
His hooves pounded the floor and forced it to crack
Legs like tree-trunks, and a voice like thunder
His eyes flashed like stars underneath his hood
All present had their composures thrown asunder.
“Greetings!” The unicorn cried to the thrones.
“I have traveled from the Northland’s wastes
To meet the Sisters of much I have heard
And so I have arrived, coming with haste.”
Celestia bowed with grace to this stranger
“We accept you in our halls, you are to be certain
You will be welcome as long as you stay.
But I request you tell of your journey and all it may pertain.
Begin with your name, if you please,” she concluded.
And the unicorn nodded in acceptance.
“Of course. You behold Polaris, a messenger
For my people, and have come to pay penance
To the rulers of our far away neighbors.
I am the chieftain of my tribe in the North,
Masters of snow and flame in our magic.
But now we are in need, and I have come forth
To beg of you your assistance.”
He bowed in his head, in pleading he waited
While averting his eyes to the ground.
Not wanting the Princess to know what was unstated.
Star Swirl arose, proudly he stood,
His horn lit aflame to point to the sky.
“Of course we will help! I’ll accompany you myself!”
He did not pause to ask Polaris why.

Yeah, I really think schools should change their teaching methods. Every year, when I take the standardized tests, I see again and again at least 40% of the test something the teachers never taught. It also doesn't really give you much stuff you actually will need beyond high school, unless you plan on being an ultimate master-of-all-subjects in college and want to try every single job out there at least once. Maybe then.